Today is February 6th, 2022. When the sun arose in Havana today most Cubans focused on this statue. That's because today is the birthday of Camilo Cienfuegos. He was born on February 6, 1932, and at the tender of age 27 he died on October 28th, 1959...the very year the Cuban Revolution shocked the world, especially the United States, by overthrowing the U.S.-backed/Mafia-back Batista dictatorship. Cubans today believe that the Revolution would not have been won without the brilliant decisions and acts of the brave Camilo!!
It was on October 28-1959 that Camilo Cienfuegos died at age 27 in the crash of a small airplane during a coastal storm. Every year since 1959 on February 6th -- Camilo's birthday -- and October 28th, the day Camilo died in 1959, Cuban children across Cuba have thrown flowers into the sea to honor their rebel hero Camilo Cienfuegos. The photo above was taken today as these children honored Camilo's Feb. 6th-1932 birthday in Havana, his birthplace.
Known in Cuba as "The Hero of the Battle of Yaguajay" and "The Hero of the Battle of Santa Clara" -- among many other key battles during the Revolutionary War -- Camilo Cienfuegos in 1959 and to this day remains as one of the three most popular male rebels -- along with Fidel Castro and Che Guevaro -- to emerge from the Revolutionary War. In 1959, just before his death, Bohemia Magazine's great journalist Marta Rojas asked Camilo: "Fidel says he has no aspirations to be President of Cuba, and Che has said the same thing. What about you?" Camilo replied: "Fidel must be convinced to be Cuba's top leader, at least for 5 to 10 years to recover from what Batista and the Mafia and the United States have done to Cuba. Fidel would get 95 percent of the popular votes, including mine, and Che would get the other 5 percent. As for me, my goal while I am still in my 20s is to own the best and largest Clothing Store in Havana, my hometown."
For sure, Camilo Cienfuegos and Fidel Castro fought side-by-side during the Revolutionary War and remained dear friends in 1959 in Revolutionary Cuba. Non-U.S. journalists and historians have reported that basic fact -- such as The Guardian. But U. S. journalists have lied about it to comport with their anti-Cuban rhetoric.
In fact, right after winning the War in 1959, Fidel and Camilo became co-managers and the top two teammates and players on the Baseball Team they named The Barbudos/The Bearded Ones. Fidel was the ace pitcher and Camilo was the best hitter. In October-1959, a few weeks after this photo was taken, Camilo died in a coastal plane crash and by then the U. S. media had already begun accusing Fidel of every crime in the Caribbean, including the death..."murder"...of Camilo. That portrayal of Fidel has continued to this day -- six years after Fidel's death in 2016 at age 90 -- for the purpose of regaining control of Cuba, which remains a massive ongoing process by Miami and Washington. Of course...since October of 1959 the U.S. "experts" claim that Fidel had Camilo killed because Camilo was the only person in Cuba in 1959 that came close to being as popular as Fidel was, so that was WHY Fidel killed Camilo...at least as the plethora of U. S. propagandists in the United States still claim.
But today...on Feb. 6th-2022, which is Camilo's BIRTHDAY...there are an incredible number of images and other memories of Camilo, attesting to the sheer fact that Fidel and Camilo remain to this day, along with Che, the most powerful Revolutionary icons on the island. Of course, in the United States on Feb. 6th-2022 Americans are not supposed to know that.
And therefore, saddled with only a one-sided history of U.S-Cuban Relations, Americans are not supposed to know why -- on Feb. 6th-2022 -- these Cuban schoolchildren today are tossing flowers into the sea. For the record, they are honoring the Feb. 6th-1932 BIRTHDAY of Camilo Cienfuegos. And then on October 28th-2022 they will throw more flowers into the sea to mourn the death of the 27-year-old Camilo Cienfuegos on October 28th-1959.
Regarding the life, death, and legacy of Camilo Cienfuegos, Christopher Minster {see above} has been somewhat unique in the Western World for getting some of the history regarding Camilo Cienfuegos correct, even when Christopher Minster discussed Camilo's death.
But, as noted above, the U. S. obsession of owning Cuba became one of the greatest missions of the nascent United States almost the moment it felt powerful enough to capture it...as the top Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, began to proclaim loudly in 1817. Others have followed since 1817.
Thus, from 1823 till 2022 the U. S. obsession with owning Cuba has dominated US-Cuban Relations.
But from 1492, when Columbus discovered both Cuba and the U. S., until 2022 Cuba's incomparable beauty and is geographical location has made it the top prize for many foreign powers, especially Spain and the United States for the last 150 years.
So...for 150 years independence-loving Cubans fought the Spanish & American foreigners...losing two major wars against Spain just prior to 1898 when the U. S. won the Spanish-American War on Cuban soil. FINALLY in 1959 Cubans gained control of their own nation when the Cuban Revolution defeated the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. Even more STARTLING, from 1959 until February of 2022, Revolutionary Cuba has, somehow, warded off the dire ambition of the Superpower U. S. to regain control of Cuba.
And meanwhile, since 1959 the Superpower United States has owned the Cuban narrative but not owned the island ITSELF. That's why on Feb. 6th-2022 Americans are not supposed to know why Cubans on the island today -- on Feb. 6th-2022 -- are wildly celebrating the Feb. 6th-1932 BIRTHDAY of Revolutionary Hero Camilo Cienfuegos. And on October 28th-2022 Cubans on the island will massively mourn the death of the 27-year-old Camilo Cienfuegos on October 28th-1959. In other words, since 1959 the triumph of the Cuban Revolution has changed the United States even more than it HAS CHANGED Cuba!! And, yes, Camilo Cienfuegos himself remains a massive part of that U.S.-Cuban HISTORY!!!!
By the way, Helen Yaffe is a beloved Professor at the University of Glasgow {UK} and is -- as a historian, journalist, author, lecturer, etc. -- she is surely one of the World's greatest experts on the history of Cuba and on today's Cuba!!!
This is what the great Helen Yaffe posted on her Facebook page today -- Feb. 6th-2022 -- about the Feb. 6th-1932 birthday of the great CAMILO CIENFUEGOS who was born on Feb. 6th-1932. Please note that she calls Camilo "As important a figure as Fidel or Che" and she says Camilo's "memory burns on in the heart of the Cuban people...and in Glasgow too!" In other words, the great Helen Yaffe is not afraid of the vast and lucrative Anti-Cuban COTTAGE INDUSTRY in the United States.
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